Of the world's 192 countries, 121 are electoral democracies. However, only 11 of the 47 nations (23 percent) with an Islamic majority have democratically elected governments. In the non-Islamic world, which comprises 145 states, 110 are electoral democracies (75 percent). Therefore, a non-Islamic state is over three times more likely to be democratic than an Islamic state. None of the 16 Arab states of the Middle East and North Africa is a democracy.[1]

December 2001

There are 4 places in the world that still have beheading as a method of execution. Every single one is officially Islamic.

Although beheading is legal today only in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar and Yemen, it has been used in many non-Muslim countries throughout the ages.[2]

There are 5 places in the world that still have amputation as a form of legal punishment. Every single one is officially Islamic.

"Amputating hands, flogging, all of these kind of [sentences] that are used in Iranian Islamic laws as punishment, all of these are considered torture, [and] torture has been banned in [international treaties]," Lahidji said.
Amputation as legal punishment is still practiced in a number of countries, among them Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Islamic regions of Nigeria. They were also common in Afghanistan under the Taliban. Parts of sub-Saharan West Africa have also recently witnessed amputations as a form of intimidation used by various political factions.[3]

January 2008

In 2012 there were 7 known countries in the world where the state could execute you for being atheist. Every single one was officially Islamic.

The annual “freedom of thought” report from the International Humanist and Ethical Union, an advocacy umbrella group that represents and seeks to protect non-religious people, details laws and practices around the world that punish or restrict atheism. The group presented the report to the United Nations today.

The report tracks, among other things, which countries have laws explicitly targeting atheists. There are not many, but the states that forbid non-religiousness – typically as part of “anti-blasphemy” legislation – include seven nations where atheism is punishable by death. All seven establish Islam as the state religion. Though that list includes some dictatorships, the country that appears to most frequently condemn atheists to death for their beliefs is actually a democracy, if a frail one: Pakistan. Others include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, the West African state of Mauritania, and the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. These countries are colored red on the above map.. . .
Some countries, according to the report, also codify possible prison sentences for atheists (these countries are indicated in orange on the map). These laws, however, can be difficult to distinguish from restrictions against “religious incitement,” which are common in much of the world, including in atheist-friendly Western Europe. But the report indicates that, in countries such as Egypt or Indonesia, the laws appear to be used to specifically target citizens who, for example, publicly profess their own atheism.

Other countries, colored yellow on the map, restrict rights for atheists, for example by limiting marriage rights or public service.[4][5]

December 2012

There are 9 places in the world that still have stoning as a form of legal punishment. Every single one is officially Islamic.

[In addition to Iran] Stoning is also a legal punishment for adultery in Mauritania, a third of Nigeria's 36 states, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.[6]

September 2013

There are now 13 countries in the world where the state can execute you for being atheist. Every single one is officially Islamic.

In 13 countries around the world, all of them Muslim, people who openly espouse atheism or reject the official state religion of Islam face execution under the law, according to a detailed study issued on Tuesday.. . .

The study, The Freethought Report 2013, was issued by the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), a global body uniting atheists, agnostics and other religious skeptics, to mark United Nations' Human Rights Day on Tuesday.. . .
A first survey of 60 countries last year showed just seven where death, often by public beheading, is the punishment for either blasphemy or apostasy - renouncing belief or switching to another religion which is also protected under U.N. accords.

Asked whether Shari'a should be the only source of legislation, one of the sources of legislation, or not be a source of legislation, most Muslims believed it should at least be a source of legislation. Support was particularly strong in Jordan, Palestine, and Egypt, where approximately two-thirds of Muslim respondents stated that the Shari'a must be the only source of legislation; while the remaining third believed that it must be "one of the sources of legislation." By comparison, in Lebanon and Syria, a majority (nearly two thirds in Lebanon and just over half in Syria) favored the view that Shari'a must be one of the sources of legislation.

In contrast, neither education nor age seems to explain attitudes toward the role of the Shari’a in legislation. Pooled data from Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt indicate that 58% of respondents with low education, 59% of those with moderate education, and 56% with higher education believe that Shari'a must be the only source of legislation in their countries. Similarly, the pooled data found that approximately 50% of respondents in all age groups wanted to see the Shari’a become the only source of legislation, another 36-40% across age groups wanted to see it as a source of legislation, and 10-13% preferred that the Shari’a not become a source of legislation.[8]

February 2005

These findings are from surveys in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, and Indonesia conducted from December 2006 to February, 2007 by WorldPublicOpinion.org with support from the START Consortium at the University of Maryland.. .

Equally large majorities agree with goals that involve expanding the role of Islam in their society. On average, about three out of four agree with seeking to "require Islamic countries to impose a strict application of sharia," and to "keep Western values out of Islamic countries." Two-thirds would even like to "unify all Islamic counties into a single Islamic state or caliphate."[9]

A Pew poll released on December 2, 2010, found that even today “The majority of Muslims would favor changing current laws in their countries to “allow stoning as punishment for adultery, hand amputation for theft, and death for those who convert from Islam as their religion”.[10]

Support for Severe Laws (Pew 2010)

Views of harsh punishments also vary across the Muslim publics polled. Majorities of Muslims in Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and Nigeria say they would favor making harsh punishments such as stoning people who commit adultery; whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery; and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion the law in their country.[11]

December 2010

The use of the death penalty (hangings, decapitations, etc.) to implement the Shari'ah continues to increase year by year.

The use of the death penalty to implement the Sharia, Islamic law, continues to increase year by year: in 2010 there were at least 714 executions, against 658 in 2009 and around 585 in the previous year, in 13 countries with a Muslim majority, many of which ordered by religious tribunals.

The sentences were carried out by hanging, decapitation and execution by firing squad. These figures emerged from the 2011 report presented today in Rome by the association 'Nessuno tocchi Caino' (Hands Off Cain).

Worldwide 24 of the 47 countries with a Muslim majority practice capital punishment; 18 of these have a judicial system that explicitly refers to the Sharia. There is only one Islamic country, Iran, that applied the death penalty in 2010 and in the first six months of 2011 to minors who were under the age of 18 when they committed their crime. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Mauritania and Egypt also sentenced minors to death, but did not execute the penalty.

The Sharia has been applied through hanging, decapitation and execution by firing squad. In Iran, Nigeria and Pakistan people have been sentenced to death by stoning, but there are no reports of actual executions by this method, though stoning is used without regular trials in Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Hanging, often in public, is the most widespread method. The Iranian version is particularly cruel: in this country a crane or a low platform is used that causes the convicts to die a slow and painful death. The only country to apply decapitation is Saudi Arabia. In 2010 there were 27 executions, less than half of the number recorded in 2009 (at least 69), but the number of decapitations increased significantly in 2011 (34 on July 25).[12]

August 2011

There has been an “alarming” rise in executions in countries that still have the death penalty, with Middle Eastern states seeing a 50 percent increase in recorded executions in 2011, according to Amnesty International.[13]

March 2012

The results of this survey by Pew Research Center were published in 2016. They show an overwhelming support for imposition of sharia among Muslim populations across the globe (except for the lower numbers in Central Asia).[14]

...religious fundamentalism is not a marginal phenomenon within West European Muslim communities. Almost 60 per cent agree that Muslims should return to the roots of Islam, 75 per cent think there is only one interpretation of the Koran possible to which every Muslim should stick and 65 per cent say that religious rules are more important to them than the laws of the country in which they live. Consistent fundamentalist beliefs, with agreement to all three statements, are found among 44 per cent of the interviewed Muslims.[15]

Up to 400 women and girls are being held in Afghan prisons for "moral crimes" including running away from home to escape beatings or forced marriage according to a study.. . .

Virtually all teenage girls held in prison are accused of immorality, either extramarital sex or running away, and around half of adult women inmates.. . .
The report by Human Rights Watch found many inmates had fled a forced marriage, or violent husbands and in-laws.

In some cases women had been charged with having extramarital sex after being raped or forced into prostitution, it said.[17]

21% of the young Antwerp Muslims say that they find it “problematic” that the majority of Antwerp’s citizens are non-Muslims, while less than half (47%) do not regard this as a problem. 22% of the Muslim girls prefer to marry a man who has lived in a Muslim country all his life.
Many of the young Muslims are unwilling to become Flemish. 40% say that Islamic values are incompatible with Flemish values.[19]

The survey [conducted by the MacDonald Laurier Institute], which was released Tuesday, found 62% [of Muslims] wanted some form of Shariah law in Canada, 15% of them saying it should be mandatory for all Muslims.

The report also states support for extremism is just as high among Muslims born in Canada, or other Western countries, as it is among those hailing from oppressive dictatorships.[20]

The Muslim Brotherhood's stated goal is to instill the Qur'an and Sunnah as the "sole reference point for ...ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community ... and state".[21]

More than a third of Egyptians support the extreme Muslim Brotherhood movement, according to a new survey conducted by the Egyptian government’s media and decision-making support center.
The survey, the results of which were reported by the pan-Arab daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday, revealed that 35% of citizens support the Muslim Brotherhood while only 21% oppose the movement.[22]

September 2011

A poll by the Washington-based Pew Research Center also reveals growing Islamic sentiment among Egyptians since the Arab Spring, with 66 percent thinking Islam plays a major role in the country’s political life compared to 47 percent in 2010.

Six in 10 want to see Islamic law strictly enforced, compared to just six percent who feel it should have no influence.. . .

The results might disappoint those who hoped Egypt would follow in the path of Turkey, whose moderate Islamic government is making overtures to the West in its bid to join the European Union. Sixty-one percent of Egyptians told Pew they would prefer to follow the fundamentalist Saudi Arabian model of government. [23]

Most disturbing, some surveys find that the younger generation of Turkish Germans express surprising hostility toward Europe and the West. In one study, the sociologist Wilhelm Heitmeyer and his colleagues at the University of Bielefeld found that almost one-third of those polled agreed that Islam must become the state religion in every country.

Even though they live in Europe, 56 percent declared that they should not adapt too much to Western ways, but should live by Islam. More than a third insisted that if it serves the Islamic community, they are ready to use violence against nonbelievers. Almost 40 percent said that Zionism, the European Union and the United States threaten Islam."[24]

July 2005

Nearly every fourth non-German Muslim rejects integration, questions western values and tends to accept violence, according to a study commissioned by the German Interior Ministry and released late Thursday morning.. . .
The survey showed that of Muslims living in Germany who were not German citizens [more than half of the four million Muslims in Germany], 52 percent favored integration, while 48 percent “strongly leaned toward separation” and clearly rejected German majority culture.[25]

March 2012

[A study by Ruud Koopmans from the WZB Berlin Social Science Center finds] the lowest levels of [European Muslim] fundamentalism in Germany... But even among German Muslims fundamentalist attitudes are widespread, with 30 per cent agreeing to all three statements. Comparisons with other German studies reveal remarkably similar patterns. For instance, in the 2007 Muslime in Deutschland study 47 per cent of German Muslims agreed with the statement that following the rules of one’s religion is more important than democracy, almost identical to the 47 per cent in our survey that finds the rules of the Koran more important than the German laws.[15]

A survey in three provinces found that young people’s level of understanding of corruption and their willingness to obey the law did not correlate with Shariah, poverty or living in a multicultural society.

A survey by Transparency International Indonesia found that an understanding of corruption in the Shariah-based Aceh province was lowest compared to East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and East Java.

“It shows that there was no correlation between the implementation of Shariah law, living in one of the poorest provinces, or living in a multicultural society, with the level of understanding of corruption and breaking the law. Young people in these provinces understand what corruption is, and they also have experience in bribing officials,” Transparency International Indonesia’s youth program coordinator, Lia Toriana, said in a discussion at the secretariat of Malang Corruption Watch (MCW) in Malang, East Java, on Thursday.

A survey conducted between July and December last year found that only 31 percent of respondents in Aceh had a high level of awareness of the negative effects of corruption on society, compared to 54 percent in East Java and 55 percent in NTT.

“Their level of understanding of the bad effects of corruption is a measure of their integrity, which means no lying, no cheating,” Lia said.[26]

Of the Islamic states that ban lesbian and gay sex, Iran is the most zealously homophobic. Since 1980 [to 1999], when the fundamentalists came to power under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, over 4,000 lesbians and gay men have been executed, according to estimates by the exiled Iranian homosexual rights group, Homan.
In the early 1980's, for example, 70 people were executed after they attempted to set up a lesbian and gay organization. Nearly 100 homosexuals were sentenced to death in 1992 following a raid on a private party.[27]

September 1999

Hundreds of prisoners have been secretly executed in Iran, according to a new UN report which details growing human rights abuses in the Islamic republic.

The report, obtained by the AFP news agency, said 200 officially announced executions had taken place in 2011 with at least 83, including those of three political prisoners, in January alone.

Highlighting a jail in Mashhad, in eastern Iran, the report said "authorities reportedly conducted more than 300 secret executions at Vakilabad prison in 2010".

"It has also been reported that at least 146 secret executions have taken place to date in 2011," it said.

"Vakilabad officials, in violation of Iranian law, allegedly carried out the executions without the knowledge or presence of the inmates' lawyers or families and without prior notification to those executed.". . .
[Ahmed Shaheed, the new UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Iran] also noted that four per cent of executions stipulated no charges, that 100 juveniles were on death row, and that more than 100 executions this year alone were for drug-related offences.

The report, which is to be presented to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, details a raft of abuses from the denial of women's rights to torture, but the most shocking data was the skyrocketing rate of executions.

Human Rights Watch counted 388 executions in Iran in 2010, while Amnesty International put the figure at 252, ranking the Islamic republic second only to China in the number of people put to death last year.

Tehran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order, and that it is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery are among the crimes punishable by death in Iran.[28]

October 2011

According to the summary report, a total of 2,751 case reports were gathered in 2011 and reflected 1,120,077 violations of the articles of Human Rights Conventions which Iran had committed to respect. The report also says, 498 execution verdicts were issued and 529 people were officially executed in 2011 in different provinces. The Iranian judiciary also sentenced 597 accused people to more than 302 years of deprivation of their social rights.[29]

Iran's use of the death penalty has been criticised by the Foreign Office, with the number of executions set to soar above 1,000 this year.

Iran executes more people per capita than any other nation and the extremely high numbers killed for drug dealing and sexual orientation has provoked worldwide concern.. . .

Reports indicate that Iran recently executed up to 63 people in one week.[31]

June 2012

According to Norway-based Iran Human Rights, monitoring of Iran’s media shows there have been eight public hangings, one public amputation and four public lashings in Iran in the past 10 days alone.[32]

More than a third—36%—would prefer Ireland to be ruled under Sharia law, while 37% would like Ireland to be governed as an Islamic state.

It found 28% of young Muslims aged between 16 and 26 believe violence for political ends is sometimes justified.

More than half of young Muslims—57%—believe Ireland should become an Islamic State.

Almost one-in-five—19%—said they “respect” al-Qa’ida terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, but the same number of those polled supported US President George Bush. However, the findings generally reveal strong liberal opinions among Irish-based Muslims. [33][34]

Almost 90 percent of the people found guilty of “Zina” – fornication – and sentenced to flogging in 2011 were female, according to new statistics published by the Department of Judicial Administration last week.

A total of 129 fornication cases were filed last year and 104 people sentenced, out of which 93 were female. This includes 10 underage girls (below 18), 79 women between age 18-40 and and four women above 40 years.

Of the 11 males who were sentenced, only one was a minor, with the others aged between 25-40.

Compared to 2010, the overall sentences in fornication increased by 23 percent in 2011, but the number of males sentenced for flogging decreased by 15 percent while the women increased by 30 percent.

According to Maldivian law, a person found guilty of fornication is subjected to 100 lashes and sentenced to one year of house arrest or banishment while a minor’s flogging is postponed until she or he reaches 18.[35]

14% of the the Norwegian Muslims want to have Sharia in Norway. That is the results of a TV2 and Norsk Gallup survey. 72% of the Muslims disagreed, while 14% did not know. Correspending numbers for the population at large was 2%, 93% and 4%. A larger percentage of Muslim women wanted Sharia than Muslim men, and there were more Muslims with lower education than Muslims with higher education that wanted the same. [36][37]

Although no-one convicted under the [blasphemy] law has been executed, more than 30 accused have been killed by lynch mobs.[39]

March, 2011

In Pakistan, it is reported that three out of four women in prison under its Hudud laws [these are the laws of what it forbidden and permitted by Allah himself], are rape victims. Because rape is equated with zina [unlawful sexual intercourse] under Hudud law, rape victims are required to produce four pious male witnesses. It is of course nearly impossible for the rape victims to produce the four male witnesses required to prove their allegation. Therefore their police report of rape was taken as a confession of illicit sex on their part and they were duly found guilty.[40]

On November 25, 2007, a Saudi man was beheaded by sword for committing homicide. His execution brought the country’s official number of beheadings [in 2007] to 151. This number was a new record, standing in stark contrast to the 2006 total of 38 and far exceeding the previous record of 113 beheadings in 2000. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery, and drug trafficking are among the many crimes punishable by beheading in the oil-rich kingdom. [41]

Winter 2008

His [Abdul Hamid al-Fakki] execution [for witchcraft and sorcery] brings to 42 the number of people beheaded in Saudi Arabia this year, according to an AFP tally based on official and human rights group reports.

In June, London-based watchdog Amnesty International called on Saudi Arabia to stop applying the death penalty, saying there had been a significant rise in the number of executions in the previous six weeks.

It said 15 people were executed in May alone.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law.[42]

September 2011

Amnesty International says since the end of the holy month of Ramadan, executions have resumed in Saudi Arabia at an alarming rate.

The latest beheadings bring the total number of executions in the country this year to 58, more than twice the figure for the whole of 2010.

It says many of those executed in recent years have been foreign nationals, mostly migrant workers from developing countries.[43]

October 2011

The beheading [of a Saudi woman convicted of practicing witchcraft and sorcery] took to 73 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year.[44]

The Sudanese authorities are tracking down converts from Islam in their latest bid to rid the country of Christianity; they threatened to kill one Christian for refusing to divulge names.

In accordance with sharia law, apostasy – leaving Islam – is punishable by death in Sudan, although nobody has been executed for the “crime” in nearly 20 years. Almost 170 people were however jailed or charged in 2011 and 2012.

The danger for converts has increased following the secession of South Sudan in July 2011; Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has repeatedly stated his intention to strengthen sharia law, making the country 100% Islamic.[45]

A majority of the participants in the [International Social Survey Program] research, 67 percent, said they would continue acting in accordance with their religious beliefs if the Parliament passed a law that contradicted religious laws. Twenty-six percent said they would obey the country’s law in this case.[46]

The special poll [conducted by the Guardian/ICM organisations] based on a survey of 500 British Muslims found that a clear majority want Islamic law introduced into this country in civil cases relating to their own community. Some 61 per cent wanted Islamic courts - operating on sharia principles – "so long as the penalties did not contravene British law"[47]

October 2006

1 out of 3 British Muslims aged 16 to 24 believe that Muslim apostates should be executed.

In the survey of 1,003 Muslims by the polling company Populus through internet and telephone questionnaires, nearly 60% said they would prefer to live under British law, while 37% of 16 to 24-year-olds said they would prefer sharia law, against 17% of those over 55. Eighty-six per cent said their religion was the most important thing in their lives.

Nearly a third of 16 to 24-year-olds believed that those converting to another religion should be executed, while less than a fifth of those over 55 believed the same. The survey claimed that British authorities and some Muslim groups have exaggerated the problem of Islamophobia and fuelled a sense of victimhood among some Muslims: 84% said they believed they had been well treated in British society, though only 28% thought the authorities had gone over the top in trying not to offend Muslims.[48]

January 2007

Four out of 10 British Muslims want sharia law introduced into parts of the country, a survey reveals today.

The ICM opinion poll also indicates that a fifth have sympathy with the "feelings and motives" of the suicide bombers who attacked London last July 7, killing 52 people, although 99 per cent thought the bombers were wrong to carry out the atrocity.
. . .
The most startling finding is the high level of support for applying sharia law in "predominantly Muslim" areas of Britain.

Forty per cent of the British Muslims surveyed said they backed introducing sharia in parts of Britain, while 41 per cent opposed it. Twenty per cent felt sympathy with the July 7 bombers' motives, and 75 per cent did not. One per cent felt the attacks were "right".

Nearly two thirds thought the video images shown last week of British troops beating Iraqi youths were symptomatic of a wider problem in Iraq. Half did not think the soldiers would be "appropriately punished".

Half of the 500 people surveyed said relations between white Britons and Muslims were getting worse. Only just over half thought the conviction of the cleric Abu Hamza for incitement to murder and race hatred was fair.[49]

February 2006

At least 85 Islamic sharia courts are operating in Britain, a study claimed yesterday. The astonishing figure is 17 times higher than previously accepted. . .
However, they operate behind doors that are closed to independent observers and their decisions are likely to be unfair to women and backed by intimidation, a report by independent think-tank Civitas said.[50]

June 2009

32% of British Muslim students support killing for Islam; 40% want Shari'ah Law

According to a new survey done at 30 universities in Britain, the young Muslim student body in that country is extremely radicalized. The poll asked 600 Muslim students and 800 of their non-Muslim peers about politically touchy subjects like killing in the name of Islam and Sharia Law—and the results were like night and day between the two demographics. While hardly anyone in the non-Muslim sample accepted killing in the name of religion, basically one-third of all Muslim students in Britain supported this.. . .

In an ironic twist, this survey and its shocking poll results were made available only through the Wikileaks leaking of Julian Assange. The poll was revealed as part of a secret, diplomatic cable that emerged from the US Embassy in London.

Other results in the pro-Islamist survey results are also troublesome. For instance, more than half of all British Muslim students insist on being represented by a political party that is Islam-based. The clear-cut, overwhelming theme in this poll data from this leaked cable relates to the fact that many Muslims even in so-called civilized countries like Britain still want to relapse to the Middle Ages (or earlier, even) by making Islam central in all aspects of their true-believing lives.[51]